


A Sullen And Rebellious Breed

by SarahRad



Series: Just Your Average Crime Fighting Family [6]
Category: Marvel (Movies)
Genre: Domestic Avengers, Gen, M/M, Superfamily, Superhusbands, mild drug use, parenting, teenage angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-29
Updated: 2012-07-05
Packaged: 2017-11-08 19:27:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/446670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SarahRad/pseuds/SarahRad
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peter gets majorly injured for the first time since becoming Spiderman and Steve learns  a thing or two about parenting teenagers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Tony and Steve burst into Bruce’s lab. Peter was sitting on a table with his spiderman uniform unzipped and pulled down to his waist. He had large mottled bruises all over his body, one eye swollen shut, an open gash dripping blood sluggishly down his forehead, and one arm was hanging awkwardly from his shoulder.

“Jesus Christ, Peter! Did you jump in front of a train?!” Tony asked, trying to hide his worry behind jokes. It didn’t work.  
Before Peter could answer, Bruce told him to take a deep breath and popped his shoulder back into place.

“Fuck!” Peter yelled at the pain. Steve bit back the reprimand for language, because he could see how much pain his son was in.

“What happened?” Tony asked.

“Tried to stop a mugging. Turned out it was a Doom-bot. With more Doom-bots for backup too.” Peter said.

“Doom-bots?! I didn’t know Doctor Doom was back in town.” Steve said with a frown.

“I just want to punch him in the face.” Peter said mulishly, wincing as Bruce wrapped his ribs.

“So what exactly is wrong then? You’re bruised everywhere, dislocated shoulder, and is that cracked ribs?” Tony asked.

“Broken ribs, actually.” Said Bruce. “Three of them. And what looks like a mild concussion. But don’t worry!” he said to Tony and Steve’s horrified expressions. “Remember, he heals quickly now. The ribs should be healed by this time tomorrow, and you can already see the bruises lightening and turning yellow on the edges.”

“I don’t care. I still don’t like this.” Steve said, running a hand through Peter’s hair. It was full of dirt and dried sweat and blood, but he didn’t care. Peter leaned into Steve’s shoulder, closing his eyes and sighing. Sometimes there wasn’t any substitute for a parent’s warm shoulder.

“So this leaves us with a few things to think about.” Steve said. “1. Why are the Doom-bots back? 2. We’re going to have to fix up your suit, Pete. Add a few more safety precautions, you know? And 3. How long are we going to keep you off the streets?”

“Off the streets!?” Peter cried

“Yes, Peter. I don’t want you out there if there’s Doom-bots running around. I know you’re capable of taking care of yourself, but clearly not against Doom-bots. Just, take a break from Spiderman until we can clear the Doom-bots please?”  
Peter just gaped at his Pop like he had just kicked his puppy. He looked over at Tony, trying to plead reason.

“Sorry, Peter, but your Pop’s right. You should stay in for a while. Rest up a bit.” Tony said, as Steve rubbed Peter’s back. Peter just glared and stared off into the middle distance while Bruce finished patching him up.

**

“Morning Peter. How are you feeling?” Steve said as Peter shuffled into the kitchen. His cuts and bruises had all cleared up and the only sign that he had even been injured 12 hours previously was the slightly stiff way he moved his torso.

“Mm fine.” Peter mumbled as he poured himself a coffee.

“Your ribs still sore?” Steve asked, eyeing his sons movements for any hint of discomfort. Peter just nodded. “Well you should take it easy today. Your Dad and I are heading out on a mission today. We should be home for dinner, but if we’re not, I’m sure you can find something, right?”

“Are you looking for the Doom-bots?” Peter asked, ignoring Steve’s question about dinner.

“I’m not supposed to tell you what we’re doing, you know that.” Steve said with a frown.

“Yeah, it’s the Doom-bots.” Tony said, sauntering into the kitchen. He kissed Steve good morning and grabbed a cup of coffee of his own. Steve frowned at him as he sat down.

“Tony, you know we’re not - “

“I know, I know. But really, it’s not like he doesn’t already know about them.” Tony reasoned, cutting Steve off before he could fully transition into Captain America: SHIELD Employee.

“So where are you going to start looking? Have you heard anything from Doctor Doom?” Peter asked.

“Yeah, I’m not going to tell you that much, kiddo.” Tony said.

“And besides, we don’t know the plan yet ourselves. You should know that.” Steve said.

“Well fine then. If you guys are going to be boring and secretive, I’m going to watch TV.” Peter said archly, heading out into the living room.  
He stopped himself from just flopping on the couch at the last minute, remembering the ache in his ribs. Peter turned on the TV and stared at the cartoons that came on. He wasn’t paying much attention, he just wanted to ignore his parents.

Half an hour of bad cartoons later and Steve came into the living room dressed as Captain America with Tony hot on his heels.

“Alright, we’re heading out. Please stay in the house while we’re gone.” He pleaded. Peter just grunted in reply. “Have you done all your homework?” Steve asked. Peter and Tony both gave him a look that said ‘really?’ Steve looked between them for a second before conceding. “Okay fine, dumb question. But will you at least clean your room? It’s a pigsty.” Peter just grunted again. Steve sighed.

“Don’t throw any crazy parties while we’re gone.” Tony said.

“Guys, stop. I’m fine. I’m 16, I can look after myself for a day.” Peter said, finally turning to look at his parents.

“We just worry about you is all.” Steve said as he brushed Peter’s hair off his forehead and kissed the top of his head.

“Okay fine, go save New York now please.” Peter said, shooing away his Pop’s affection. As his parents left, he could hear Tony comforting Steve down the hallway.

“Don’t worry about him, Cap. He’s a teenager. This is what teenagers do.”

Peter slumped back into the couch, already bored. He had no intention of cleaning his rom either. He sighed, wincing at the ache it caused in his ribs, and then began browsing the video games, looking for a distraction.

**

“Seriously dude, they’ve got you on lockdown?” Wade Wilson said as he walked off the elevator. Peter knew his parents didn’t approve of his best friend, but he didn’t care, and invited him over anyways.

“Pretty much. Here, come play Mario Kart with me.” Peter said over his shoulder, tossing Wade a controller. Wade caught it and hopped over the back of the couch to join Peter.

“So you got the shit kicked out of you, huh?” Wade said as they started a race.

“Yup. And now Pop’s gone all crazy protective.” Peter said with a grimace, leaning to the side as his character went around a sharp corner.

“So naturally you’re staying inside and doing as you’re told.” Wade scoffed.

“Well, I’m not cleaning my room like they told me to.” Peter defended himself.

“Oh yeah, you’re such a rebel, Pete. Jeez. You’re a teenager, being a rebel is what being a teenager is for! You’re supposed to stay out late, get drunk and high, kiss all the girls, deface public property, you know? You are missing out on the finer points of life by staying in and doing as you’re told!”

“So what would you suggest I do then? Please remember that my ribs are cracked before you answer.”

“Well with cracked ribs there won’t be any defacing public property because that involves running, but we can definitely get out of this place.” Wade said.

“Get out of here and do what though?” Peter asked.

“I know some girls with some kickass weed. Let’s go get high.” Wade suggested.

“I don’t know, Wade…” Peter said.

“Fine. Be a goody-good loser who stays at home and listens to his parents and never has any fun. You won’t have any good stories to tell your children one day.”

“Wade, I hope you never have children to tell your stories to.” Peter said as he got up and turned Mario Kart off. “Well come on then. If we’re doing this, then let’s go.”

Wade let out a gleeful whoop and bounced off the couch, heading for the elevator.

**

Peter sat uncomfortably on the couch in this girl’s house. He was pretty sure she said her name was Ashley, be he didn’t know. It didn’t really matter anyways. He wasn’t going to be talking to her for a while because she currently had her tongue down Wade’s throat.

They had smoked quite a lot of pot and knew that Wade and Ashley and Ashley’s two friends in the kitchen were all incredibly baked. But he was still sober. He supposed it had something to do with his enhanced metabolism and healing capabilities.

“This sucks.” Peter muttered to himself. He glanced over at Wade and saw that Ashley had taken her shirt off.

Well that was just great.

If that was the route Wade was going with this, Peter wasn’t going to stick around and watch.

“Where you going?” Wade asked when Peter got up off the couch.

“Home. Have fun with… that.” He said gesturing to Wade and Ashley’s tangled position. “Thanks for the weed, Ashley.” She hummed happily in response as she started sucking on Wade’s neck. Peter shook his head as he closed the door to Ashley’s apartment.

He was a fair distance from Stark Tower. They had caught the subway over here, but Peter didn’t feel like racing home, so he decided to walk. He cut through Central Park, hoping for a leisurely jaunt through nature before he was cooped up back at home. As he walked he wondered how the Doom-bot cleanup was going. He hoped his parents dealt with it quickly. He didn’t like being grounded for his safety.

As if on cue, his phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID and groaned when he saw his Dad’s number.

“Hello?” he answered cautiously.

“Where the hell are you?! Get your ass back in this tower NOW.” Tony’s voice came yelling through the speaker. Peter had to hold the phone away from his ear to avoid being deafened.

“Yeah, I’m working on it.” Peter sighed.

“Where are you?”

“Central Park. I’m not far off now. Keep your shirts on, I’ll be home soon.”

Peter ended the call before his Dad could rage at him some more. He knew he’d pay for it later, but he just couldn’t deal with it right now.

He sighed and picked up the pace. There was no point enjoying the scenery now. The longer he took to get home, the more trouble he would be in.

And it was with that thought that he climbed to the top of the nearest building when he reached the edge of the park and started hopping across rooftops to get home.

He climbed in his bedroom window which was always left open for this reason. With a slightly achey deep breath to brace himself, he walked out of his bedroom to find his parents.

He found them at the kitchen table. Steve was doing the NYT crossword in pen and Tony was flipping through the news on a tablet.

“Um, I’m home now.” Peter said quietly from the doorway.

“Sit.” Tony said, pointing to the seat across from him. Neither of them looked up at Peter. That is, until Peter sat down.

“What’s that smell?” Steve asked, sniffing the air. Tony sniffed as well and a half second later his eyes went wide with recognition.

“Are you high, Peter?!” Tony asked.

“No.” Peter said sulkily, slouching in his chair.

“Sit up straight, Peter.” Steve said, his voice stern.

“You reek of pot. Where were you?!” Tony asked.

“I was at Ashley’s. She’s a friend of Wade’s I guess.” Peter admitted. His parents exchanged dark looks.

“Peter, you know what we think of Wade.” Steve said, a warning in his voice.

“He's clearly a bad influence.” Tony added.

“Oh leave Wade alone. It was my choice to go with him. If you’re going to punish me, just punish me. I don’t need a lecture." Peter said.

“Clearly you do. I won’t have anymore of your attitude either.” Steve said.

“You do realize why we wanted you to stay here, right?” Tony asked. Peter nodded slowly. “Tell me why.”

“Because I was injured - I’m totally fine now, by the way - and you guys were trying to avenge my broken ribs, and I couldn’t defend myself properly while injured.” Peter recited. Tony couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Tony, you’re not helping.” Steve muttered angrily.

“Sorry Steve. But avenge his ribs that’s the best thing I’ve ever heard!” Tony said, breaking out into proper laugher. Peter couldn’t help but grin. Steve groaned in frustration.

“Peter, you’re grounded. Two weeks, no Spiderman, no friends over or going out. You go to school, you come straight home. Do you understand?” Steve said, his voice firm.

“Yes sir.” Peter said, the grin sliding off his face.

“Good. Now go shower because you smell terrible.” Steve said.

After Peter had left the room Steve turned to Tony.

“Why do you make this so hard?”

“Don’t blame me! The kid has some funny snark, how is that my fault?!” Tony asked.

“You are ridiculous. How are we supposed to discipline him properly when he knows he can just get you laughing and walk away scott-free!?”

“He didn’t though. He’s grounded for two weeks, remember?” Tony pointed out.

“No thanks to you.” Steve grumbled.

“Steve, he’s fine. Lighten up a bit, you’re going to give yourself an ulcer.”

“Teenagers weren’t this … obstinate back when I was young.” Steve said. “They were responsible and mature, did what they were told, and respected their elders.”

“Times have changed, my friend. Teenagers are a sullen rebellious breed now. You can never predict what a teenager will do next!” Tony said, getting out of his seat and miming the stalking of a wild beast. “You should never approach a teenager in the wild, for fear of having your head bitten off. Never feed a teenager because once they begin to eat, they don’t stop until all the food is gone. They are wildly unpredictable and volatile. You need to expect the unexpected when dealing with teenagers!”

By this point Tony was looming over Steve in an exaggerated attack pose.

“Come here, you ridiculous man.” Steve said with a laugh, pulling Tony down onto his lap and into a kiss.

“Good thing about teenagers?” Tony said, breaking the kiss. “They like to keep to themselves.”

“Amen to that!” Steve said, kissing the wicked grin off of Tony’s face.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter tries to deal with his boredom while grounded. Steve has a hard time deflecting teenage angst.

I hope you’re happy - P

I sure am. Is there any reason I should be tho? - W

I’m grounded for 2 weeks. Only allowed out for school! - P

Y? What you do? - W

Dads found out I was gone then I showed up smelling like pot - P

I wasn’t even going to leave the house! YOU convinced me to go - P

U should’ve stuck around. Katie made bacon cookies! - W

You’re not even listening to me. Whatever. Fuck you. Those cookies sound disgusting. - P

More for me then! Have fun being a boring Daddy’s boy if you don’t want to come with me next time. - W

I hate you - P

No you don’t - W

Peter threw his phone across the room into a pile of dirty laundry. His Pop hadn’t been lying, his room was a mess. Be he didn’t care. He hardly spent anytime in his room anyways. Or at least that’s normally what happened. He supposed that if he was going to be stuck at home for two weeks, he should clean it.

Unfortunately, he was feeling so apathetic there was no way in hell he was going to get off his ass to do it.

Peter laid on his bed in the dark until it was so late he figured his parents had to be in bed. He was hungry but he didn’t want to talk to them again. He rolled off the bed and onto the floor before getting up and slouching out to the kitchen.

Forgoing the light he just opened the freezer and stuck his hand in, digging around for something that felt easy to cook.

“You know, it’s usually easier to find something if you can see what you’re doing.” Tony’s voice came from the doorway as he flicked on the light. Peter froze and winced at the bright light.

“Anything good in there?” Tony asked, opening the freezer wider so he could rummage as well.

“Um, pizza pops?” Peter suggested, pulling out the box.

“Excellent choice!” Tony said, popping two into the microwave.

“So did you find the Doom-bots then?” Peter asked.

“We did, but there’s no sign of Doctor Doom yet. Why, wondering why were home so early?” Tony asked slyly. Peter felt his face flush, because that’s exactly what he’d been inadvertently asking.

“Fury sent us home after we dealt with the Doom-bots. We have no clue where Dom is or what he’s doing, so there was no point sticking around just waiting for information. We can do that here and be far comfier.”

“Comfy is always … good.” Peter said as Tony pulled the pizza pops out of the microwave and handed him one.

“How are your ribs?” Tony asked around a mouthful of pizza pop. “Because I know you were lying about it this afternoon.”

“I can’t get anything past you, can I?” Peter asked, scuffing his foot on the floor.

“Nope. I’m your Dad, it’s my job to know when you’re lying. But seriously, how are they?”

“I’m okay now. See?” Peter took a deep breath. “No pain at all.”

“That is some impressive healing. I wish I could heal three broken ribs in 24 hours. I’m definitely jealous.”

They finished their pizza pops in silence.

“So, pot eh? Why pot?” Tony asked after a minute. Peter sighed and slumped down into a chair. He should have known it was too easy to just have a midnight pizza pop with his dad.

“It was Wade’s idea. He said the point of being a teenager is to rebel. Well, that’s how he got me out of the house at least. And then he brought me to this chick’s place where we all smoked a lot of pot. Everyone was high as a kite except me.” Peter looked up at his Dad. “It seems the super healing powers aren’t so great for that aspect of life.”

“Well I guess I can cross ‘becomes a homeless crack addict’ of my list of fears for your future.” Tony mused.

“Please tell me that list does not actually exist.” Peter groaned.

“You have no idea the kinds of things I have hidden on my server.” Tony joked. Peter just raised an eyebrow at him.

“Challenge accepted.” Peter said before bolting away from the table and heading for the elevator.

“No! No, don’t you dare!” Tony said, chasing after him.

Tony caught up to Peter in the foyer where he caught an arm around his son’s middle and pulled him into a headlock. Peter flailed, trying to land a punch or get away, but he was having a tough time of it. He did manage to pull Tony over to the wall, where he tried to body slam him into letting him go.

“What are you doing?!”

Turning around quickly, they saw Steve in his pyjamas, looking sleep rumpled and disgruntled at being woken up. Tony let go of Peter and they stepped a apart from each other.

“Ah, sorry Steve - “ Tony started.

“It’s 12:30 a.m. Go to bed.” Steve said in an exasperated voice.

“Yeah, you should probably head to bed, Peter.” Tony said, pushing his son in the direction of his room.

“Yeah, um okay. Night.” Peter said, heading off down the hall.

“Tony, aren’t you coming to bed too?” Steve asked.

“Yeah, I’ll be there in a moment.” Tony said, a little too innocently.

“Don’t go down to your workshop, Tony. Come to bed please.” Steve looked like such a lost puppy that Tony couldn’t refuse. 

“Okay.” Tony sighed.

He’d have to wait till tomorrow to get the upgrades on his suit worked out.

**

Tony found Peter in the pool.

It was unseasonably warm for June, and no amount of air conditioning could cool down the top floor of a building as tall as Stark Tower in the humid summer heat.

“What you doing, bud?” Tony called across the rooftop pool. Peter was just floating on his back, sunglasses on and staring at the sky.

“Trying to forget how bored I am.” Peter called back.

“Is it working?”

“Not yet.”

“Tough.”

“Do you know how many crimes I’ve seen just from looking out over the edge of the pool?” Peter asked, swimming over to  
Tony where he was setting up a lounge chair.

“Don’t care, Peter.”

“There was nobody to help them, Dad!”

“They’ll be okay.”

“God, you Avengers and you’re ‘if it can’t destroy the whole damn city then don’t call me’ attitude. Fucking stupid.”

“You really do need to watch your language, you know. Pretty soon your Pop is going to wash your mouth out with soap.”

“Ugh!” Peter cried, kicking back out into the middle of the pool. “I’m so BORED. What am I supposed to do?!”

“Chores.” Tony said. “Have you done the dishes?”

“Yes.”

“Vacuumed?”

“Yes.”

“Watered the plants?”

“We don’t have any plants.”

“We could have plants.” Peter sent Tony a scathing look. “Is your room clean?”

“Yes, actually.”

“Well fine. Read a book then.”

“I don’t want to read a book.”

“Peter, I’m not telling you what to do, I’m suggesting things. If you’re just going to shoot them down, don’t ask for suggestions! Stay out there until you’re a prune for all I care.” Tony said huffily as he flopped down on the deck chair. 

It wasn’t long before Steve came out with a pitcher of iced tea and pulled up a chair next to Tony.

“Has he actually done all the chores?” Tony asked Steve quietly.

“Like you wouldn’t believe. The place is spotless.”

“Poor kid is bored out of his mind. And he’s spying on crimes from the edge of the pool. It’s making him antsy.”

“Well then he should probably stay away from the edge of the pool.” Steve said with a practical nod. It made Tony smile.

“You’re ridiculous, you know. Of course he isn’t going to just stay away from the edge. He can’t float in the middle forever.”

But float in the middle forever is exactly what Peter did. He floated there all afternoon, all evening, and well into the night. It was midnight before Steve stalked up to the roof to bodily pull Peter out of the pool if he had to.

“Peter Benjamin, you get out of that pool right now!” Steve said angrily. Peter just groaned and continued to float.

“Leave me alone, Pop.”

“No. You have been in there for way too long. Get out of there right now.”

“You don’t want me to have any fun, do you? You take away my job, you take away my friends, and now you take away the pool? What do you expect me to do, sit inside and stare at the walls?!” Peter said angrily, swimming over to the edge of the pool.

“No.” Steve sighed, “Staying in a pool for 12 hours is incredibly bad for you. Also, it’s one in the morning, and you should go to bed.”

“Why? I don’t have school tomorrow. Thanks to you, I have nothing tomorrow. Nothing at all. I’m just going to sit there and let my brain rot.”

“You’re being ridiculous, you know.” Steve said, trying to keep a level head. There was no point in rising to Peter’s bait and starting an argument.

Apparently that was the wrong approach.

“You think I’M being ridiculous!? You’re the one who grounded me for nothing!” Peter said as he climbed out of the pool.

“It was not nothing. You left without permission and smoked pot. Even without leaving, marijuana is illegal, Peter.”

“And you’re not the police, Pop.” Peter said, mimicking Steve’s tone of voice.

“Get in the house, Peter. Stay in your room and I don’t want to see you until tomorrow morning. You understand?” Steve said coolly, finally losing his temper. He pushed a towel into Peter’s hands and practically frog-marched him to his bedroom door.

“Goodnight Peter.” Steve said angrily, shutting the door to cut off any argument.

Steve marched down the hallway to his own bedroom, fuming. He slammed the door behind him, making Tony look up from his seat on the bed, where he was doing something on a tablet.

“Everything okay?” Tony asked cautiously.

“That boy is… is… “ Steve was so angry he couldn’t even come up with the words. He paced quickly back and forth at the foot of the bed.

“He’s a teenager, Steve.” Tony sighed, getting up and stopping Steve’s pacing. “He’s irrational, he’s angry, and the world is out to get him. Every teenager is like this. Every parent has to deal with their teenagers doing this. Did you at least get him out of the pool?”

“Yes. Not without force though. I pretty much grounded him to his bedroom for the rest of the night too.” Steve said, a little guiltily.

“Well he was probably being a little shit and deserved it. Although I do admire the grounding on top of a grounding. It shows you’re serious.” Tony said with a smile.

“When does this phase stop?” Steve asked, falling back onto the bed and rubbing his hands over his face.

“When he moves out, probably.” Tony said, lying down next to Steve.

“What, really? Are you sure?”

“No. I moved out to go to University when I was 15.”

“Well you’re no help at all, then.” Steve laughed. “But I have to wonder, this whole attitude thing started when we stopped him from Spiderman. What is it about Spiderman that keeps that at bay?”

“Probably the chance to take out his frustrations and anger on petty criminals. By the time he gets home, he’s either too tired or all out of angst to take it out on us.” Tony guessed.

“You’re probably right.”

“I usually am.”

“Git. Can we go to sleep now?”

“Yes Steve. Yes we can.” Tony said with a smile as he pulled the duvet over them. Steve wrapped an arm around Tony’s waist and they drifted off into sleep, dreaming of the days when their teenage son wasn’t so difficult.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Amazingly enough, there is still another chapter after this! Should be up sometime in the next few days.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter finally get ungrounded.

Steve was reading the paper at 6am in the kitchen when Peter wandered in.

“Morning Peter. You’re up a bit early aren’t you?” Steve said.

“Oh, uh yeah. Woke up and couldn’t fall back asleep.” Peter said, a little warily. He poured himself some coffee and headed for the door again.

“What are you doing today?” Steve asked before Peter could make his getaway.

“I don’t know. Play some video games, maybe tinker in the workshop?” Peter said with a shrug.

“Why don’t you come down to the gym later? We can spar.” Steve suggested.

“Yeah okay. Sounds good.” Peter said as he headed back to his bedroom with his coffee.  
Steve hoped this plan would work.

**

The first time Steve had sparred with Peter after he was bitten, Steve ended up flat on his back with the breath knocked out of him, and Peter had ended up stuck to the ceiling.

They hadn’t sparred against each other since, instead finding a balance of Steve standing back and critiquing Peter’s technique.

Peter knew his Pop had some kind of agenda when he offered to spar. Peter was often short of volunteering opponents because his reflexes made him too quick to catch a lot of the time. His Pop was always the first one to back down from being his sparring partner. So why the sudden interest now?

Peter arrived at the gym before anyone else, so he started to warm up with a few stretches. His stretches quickly turned into jumps and tumbles, and before he knew it, he was swinging back and forth across the roof when Steve let out a sharp whistle to get his attention.

“Come back down!” Steve called, laughing when Peter slowly lowered himself down, upside down.

“You ready to go, old man?” Peter asked with a joyful grin.

“You’d better believe it.” Steve said before yanking Peter down to the floor and into a headlock, which Peter quickly ducked out of, swinging his leg around to knock Steve’s feet out from under him. Jumping away, Peter dodged Steve’s roundhouse kick.

Tony lurked in the entranceway, watching his boys brawl. It was quite obvious that Steve rarely sparred with someone as quick and as nimble as Peter. And judging from the wide grin on Peter’s face, he was enjoying himself. That’s why Steve had suggested this little match. He thought that he could help dispel some of Peter’s angst and maybe even bond with him a bit if they worked out together.

Peter and Steve had never quite seen eye to eye, even when Peter was small. And since Peter had become a teenager, he spent an awful lot of time hiding in his bedroom or down in the workshop. He was always the most outgoing and willing to talk when he first got home from being Spider-Man.  
It made taking the mask away an efficient punishment for the boy, but TOny wondered if it wasn’t detrimental to Steve’s relationship with his son.

His train of thought was interrupted by a gleeful whoop let out by Peter as he swung on a web, just out of Steve’s reach.

“Hey, if you can use those, I get my shield!” Steve called, but he was laughing. It was clear that Steve was never going to keep up with Peter and his aerial gymnastics, but at least they were both smiling and having fun.

Tony smiled and left the gym, heading down to his workshop to work on putting together a more resilient costume for Peter.

**

Peter barrelled down the stairs to his Dad’s workshop.

“You called?” Peter asked, sticking his head around the doorframe.

“Yeah. Get in here, I want to show you this.” Tony said, gesturing Peter over.  
On the worktop was the Spider-Man suit, all fixed up and repaired after being mangled by Doom-bots.

“Dad, it looks awesome!” Peter said excitedly, picking it up and examining it.

“I made it out of a more resilient spandex. Should prevent the suit from being torn which will help you to not get road rash. Although if you ask me, the best way to avoid that is to stop swinging around Manhattan. But we all know that’s not going to happen, so safety suit it is.” Tony said.

“Please never call it a safety suit ever again.”

“Fine. How’d your workout go?” Tony asked.

“Great! It’s always nice to actually spar with someone, you know? It’s just not the same on your own. Also I was getting out of practice, so it’s nice to get back in the groove.” Peter said.

“Good to hear. We want to keep you as on the ball as possible, you know. Don’t want anymore concussions and broken ribs, after all.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll be fine, Dad. Don’t worry.” Peter said offhandedly. “Can I take this?” he asked, holding up the suit.

“Yeah, it’s all done. But I’ve still got the mask until you’re done being grounded.” Tony said.

“Fine. Thanks, Dad!” Peter said, racing out of the workshop with his suit.

**

Tony and Steve walked into the living room to find Peter in the middle of what looked like either an explosion or a nest. He was sitting on the floor in front of the couch surrounded by pillows, chip bags, and pop bottles. There was a plethora of open windows on the touchscreen coffee table and Peter was immersed in a video game on the TV screen.

“Peter, what’s with the mess?” Steve asked with a frown.

“Hm?” Peter said, looking over his shoulder. “Oh! Sorry, I’ll get this cleaned up.” He started shifting some of the garbage into piles.

“What is all this?” Tony asked, moving around the sofa to see what Peter had been looking at online.

“Just googling stuff.”

“Stuff?” Steve asked.

“Yeah, just looking up whatever comes to mind. I’m bored.”

Tony read off the titles of each page.

“The Large Hadron Collider, practical time travel, the 10 laws of animation, become fluent in Swedish in just two months, how does a submarine work, tourism in Florida, and the history of Russia.” He paused for a moment. “Wow, buddy. That’s uh…”

“Diverse.” Steve said.

“Like I said, I’m bored. Did you guys need anything, or … ?” Peter asked.

“Right!” Tony said, clapping his hands together.

“We wanted to give you this back.” Steve said, holding out the Spider-Man mask.

“Awesome!” Peter said, jumping up on the couch to reach it.

“You’re free to go, but -“ Steve said, pulling the mask out of Peter’s reach at the last second, “You had better clean this up and make sure your homework is done before you leave. And be home by 10 on school nights and midnight on weekends!” Steve called after Peter as he ran off to dispose of his garbage.

“That boy was not meant to be cooped up.” Tony said with a chuckle.

“Did you say he was looking up learning Swedish?”

“Yup. But I totally get where he’s coming from. I wish I’d had google when I was his age. Instead, when I was bored, I built robots and AIs. “

Hardly a waste of your time.” Steve pointed out.

“No, but neither is learning Swedish in two months.”

“I suppose not.” Steve said.

“Alright, see you guys later!” Peter said he be ran by, already dressed in the Spider-Man suit. HE grabbed his mask and ran out onto the balcony, hopping over the edge with a quick salute back to his parents before he was out of sight.

“You know, I don’t think I’ll ever get used to seeing him do that.” Steve said weakly.

“Good. Who wants to get used to seeing their kid jump off of skyscrapers? Come on, let’s go swimming. The pool is guaranteed to be unoccupied by angsty teenagers for at least a few hours.” Tony said, pulling on Steve’s hand.

“A few hours? Tony, I think we’ve got,” Steve checked his watch, “Exactly 8 hours until we hear from him again. Let’s go swimming.”

**

Peter climbed in his bedroom window right as the alarm clock on his nightstand turned 12. He pulled off his mask and tossed it on his bed, letting out a content sigh. There was nothing more relaxing, more cleansing, or more stress relieving than swinging around New York and helping people.

Unfortunately, doing so didn’t come free. He had gained a black eye a split lip on his evening’s excursion, so he headed out to the kitchen to find something to put on his aching face.

“So how did it go?” a voice said, startling him as he passed through the living room. Spinning around, he saw his parents sprawled across the couch. Tony was fast asleep on Steve’s chest and Steve was reading a book one handed while his other hand carded through Tony’s hair.

“Went good.” Peter said, trying to escape to the kitchen quickly. His Pop never dealt with his injuries very well.

“Well come here, let me see the damage.” Steve said, beckoning him to come closer. Peter slouched over to the couch, disappointed that he’d been caught.

“Hmm, that’s going to sting later. You should ice it. There’s some frozen peas in the freezer.”

“Aren’t you going to yell at me?” Peter mumbled.

“No. I’d wake your Dad up. Plus, I have a feeling this happens more often than I ever heard about.” Steve said slyly. Peter grinned sheepishly, causing his lip to split and start bleeding again. “Go put ice on it and get to bed.” Steve said with a small smile.

“Thanks, Pop.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT'S OVER! Oh man, this chapter was hard to write. This whole story and it's rambling pointless almost-plot has just reaffirmed my love of writing oneshots. Don't go expecting another multi-chapter fic from me for a good long while, I'm thinking.
> 
> Thanks to everyone who's commented and left kudos, you've kept me driven to finishing this! I hope you all like it.

**Author's Note:**

> Wow this started as a prompt for Steve and Tony reacting to Peter getting injured on the job, and it transformed into something quite a bit larger. I already have a second chapter halfway written.


End file.
